Good Burger (film)
Good Burger is a 1997 American comedy film by Tollin/Robbins Productions and Nickelodeon Movies, released by Paramount Pictures, directed by Brian Robbins, and starring Kenan Paramount Pictures, directed by Brian Robbins, and starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. It was based on the comedy sketch "Good Burger" (starring Mitchell) featured on the Nickelodeon series All That. Plot High schooler Ed (Kel Mitchell) is a cashier at the Good Burger fast-food restaurant. He is obsessed with his job, as he never takes his uniform off, not even in the shower, and dreams of burgers talking to him. Another high schooler named Dexter Reed (Kenan Thompson) is a teenage slacker who is driving his mother's Nissan 300ZX while she is on a business trip, but he has no license. While Ed is roller-blading making a delivery, he almost runs into Dexter's car, but Dexter makes a bad turn and crashes into his teacher Mr Wheat's Infiniti J30. Mr Wheat attempts to call the police since Dexter does not have a license, but Dexter desperately asks him if he can have both cars fixed, and Mr Wheat agrees. Dexter is given a bill to pay for the car's damage; so to avoid his parents finding out about the accident, Dexter decides to get a job over the summer. Dexter starts off working at Mondo Burger, a rival burger joint that threatens to put Good Burger out of business once it opens. He is fired however when his boss, Kurt Bozwell the owner and CEO of Mondo Burger, hears him making fun of him. He goes across the street to Good Burger to get over it with Good Shakes. Ed, whom Dexter thinks looks familiar but is not able to figure out that it was him who threw him off in traffic which caused his accident, offers him a job at Good Burger. Soon after Dexter begins to work at Good Burger, Mondo Burger opens, becoming popular and it seems that pretty soon Good Burger will have to close down for good. After seeing Ed on roller blades, Dexter suddenly realizes that it was him who caused his accident, blaming him for ruining his life and telling Ed he never wants to be around him again. However, he lightens up when he finds himself unable to resist Ed's crazed antics. The next day, Dexter accidentally tastes sauce that Ed created himself, and pitches an idea to Good Burger's manager, Mr. Bailey, to put the sauce on their burgers. Pretty soon, Good Burger gets more customers than they have ever had before because of the delicious sauce. Ed gets an incredible raise for creating the sauce, and Dexter takes advantage of this by having him sign a contract that says Dexter will get eighty percent of Ed's salary, while Ed only gets twenty, therefore Dexter will be able to pay for the damage done to Mr. Wheat's car. Kurt, later runs into Ed and tells him that he will pay him double his salary if he comes to work at Mondo Burger. The plan does not work, as Ed devotes his life to Good Burger. Kurt then sends a very attractive woman named Roxanne to seduce Ed into telling her the recipe for the sauce. Roxanne shows up at Good Burger and asks Ed out on a date, at which they double with Dexter and Monique, Ed's pretty co-worker who Dexter grows feelings for. At dinner, Dexter realizes what Roxanne is doing, and warns Ed. The two couples split up, Dexter and Monique go for a walk, while Roxanne tries to seduce Ed some more. When she tries to kiss him, Ed thinks that he is being attacked and judo flips her, injuring her. She is next seen angrily quitting Mondo Burger. The next day, Monique finds out about Dexter's plan to cheat Ed, and breaks up with him. Guilt-ridden, Dexter decides to tell Ed the truth, but they are interrupted by a dog, Ed assumes that the dog was talking about four clowns whose car had broken down, but Dexter dismisses it telling Ed that the dog was hungry. When the dog refuses to eat a Mondo Burger, they realize there is something fishy about the burger. The two of them go in disguised as old ladies to Mondo Burger to find out what is wrong with their burgers. They see their employees filling the burgers with illegal acid called Triampathol that makes them big. They are quickly captured by Kurt, who once again fails to force the sauce recipe out of Ed. To keep them from going to the cops, Kurt has them admitted to a mental asylum that is run by his friend Wade. Otis, a very old employee of Good Burger, finds Kurt and two of his employees putting poison in Ed's sauce, when he tries to stop them, Kurt has him admitted also. At the asylum, Otis tells Ed and Dexter about the poison, and they find a way to distract the guards while they escape. After a dance number with the asylum patients by Ed, Dexter takes advantage of the distraction by knocking out the guards and escaping. They jump out a window with help from a vicious patient, and steal an ice cream truck to get back to Good Burger before someone is poisoned by the sauce. They get back in the nick of time, as Ed tackles an old woman before she is able to take a bite from her poisonous burger. Ed and Dexter return to Mondo Burger to find evidence that Kurt is using illegal acid in their burgers. After Dexter distracts the employees, Ed tries to get a can of acid but accidentally knocks a bottle of acid into the beef. With an idea, Ed pours some more of the substance into the beef. Before Kurt can do away with Ed and Dexter, the grill in the kitchen malfunctions (due to the acid overdose) as it churns out the burgers that become huge and inexplicably explode, destroying the restaurant as it creates a virtual "earthquake" inside the building. The cops find the bottles of acid in the demolished restaurant and Kurt is arrested. Ed then goes to explain that he poured the bottles of acid into the meat on purpose because he knew that Kurt would manipulate the legal system to his favor unless the cops discover the acid themselves as they did when the restaurant imploded; Ed then goes on to say "I'm not stupid," despite his blatant idiocy throughout the movie (as well as the All That sketch that the film is based on). Dexter then rips the contract he made Ed sign in half and decides to make the money on his own (though he is able to pay Mr. Wheat half of the money he owes for his car, which was humorously destroyed when the restaurant's rooftop burger statue fell on the car). Ed then says goodbye to Dexter, but Dexter says that he is not going anywhere. They both return to Good Burger where their co-workers and some customers celebrate Ed and Dexter as heroes for saving Good Burger. Ed finishes off the movie with his catch phrase (which he has been saying throughout the movie every time a customer is going to order something). "Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. Can I take your order?" Cast *Kenan Thompson as Dexter Reed, a high school student who desires to slack during his Summer vacation. He is the main protagonist. *Kel Mitchell as Ed, the idiotic but well-meaning and kind cashier of Good Burger. He is the secondary protagonist. *Sinbad as Mr. Wheat, the secondary antagonist who demands $2,500 from Dexter for car damages. *Abe Vigoda as Otis, an elderly Good Burger employee who cooks the French fries. He has a bigger role around the middle of the film. *Shar Jackson as Monique, a female Good Burger employee who becomes his girlfriend. She scolds Dexter for using Ed's gullibility to steal most of his money. She forgives Dexter at the end of the film when he helps Ed save Good Burger. *Dan Schneider as Mr. Bailey, the owner of Good Burger who is often busy taking care of his mother. *Ron Lester as Spatch, the head fry cook of Good Burger who has an aggressive hatred of Mondo Burger. *Jan Schweiterman as Kurt Bozwell, the main antagonist of the movie. He is the arrogant greedy C.E.O. and restaurant owner of Mondo Burger who will stop at nothing to make his food chain number one. *Josh Server as Fizz, the drive-through employee of Good Burger. *Ginny Schreiber as Deedee, one of the 2 female employees at Good Burger and a Vegetarian. *Linda Cardellini as Heather, an insane girl in Demented Hills for whom Ed grows feelings. *Shaquille O'Neal as Himself. *George Clinton as Demented Hills Patient. *Robert Wuhl as Angry Customer. *Carmen Electra as Roxanne, a henchwoman of Kurt who was assigned to seduce Ed into telling his secret sauce recipe. *Marques Houston as Jake. *J. August Richards as Griffin, one of Kurt's right hand men. *Hamilton Von Watts as Troy, Kurt's other right hand man *Lori Beth Denberg as Connie Muldoon, a customer whose extremely complex orders are too difficult for Ed to memorize. *Wendy Worthington as Demented Hills Nurse. *Colt Buehner as Demented Hills Patient Dr. Doom. Filming Most of the film's scenes were filmed along S Glendora Avenue in West Covina, California.[1] The building known as "Good Burger" in the movie was filmed at a restaurant currently known as "Manny's El Loco" 437 Glendora Ave., West Covina, CA. Meanwhile, Mondo Burger was located across the street at the Samantha Courtyard shopping center, with extra details added to the facade for the film. The AMC Pacer used as the "Burger Mobile" in the film is now a broken down car with the top "Good Burger" Logo damaged with only the "G" "E" and "R" still standing (Other letters flattened) the red arrow on the passenger side now is fallen off, and the burger is now faded. It still stands today; in an abandoned lot in Daytona Beach, Florida. Soundtrack Main article: Good Burger (soundtrack). A soundtrack containing hip hop, R&B and rock music was released on July 15, 1997 by Capitol Records. It peaked at 101 on the Billboard 200 and 65 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Box Office On a budget of 9 million, the film was a box office success, grossing over 23 million. Critical reception Despite the popularity of All That and the Kenan & Kel series, Good Burger received negative reviews from film critics garnering a "Rotten" rating of 31% on Rotten Tomatoes.[3] The film however, has received a cult following. Most praise came to Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson's performances, while the relationship with Ed and the girl in the mental hospital were negatively reviewed. References #'^' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119215/locations Filming locations for Good Burger], IMDb #'^' "The Good Burger Car". Retrieved 19 April 2012. #'^' "Good Burger (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 April 2011. External Links *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119215/ Good Burger] at the Internet Movie Database *[http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/v156959 Good Burger] at AllRovi *[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/good_burger/ Good Burger] at Rotten Tomatoes Category:Movies